


slow dancing in the dark

by gh0stface



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alcohol, Background Bucklway, Background Relationships, Bottom Steve Harrington, Dancing, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Ficlet, First Kiss, First Time, First Time Bottoming, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Gentle Sex, M/M, Porn with Feelings, Prom, Prom fic, School Dances, Shopping, Shopping Date, Slow Dancing, Slow Sex, Smut, Soft sex, Starcourt Mall (Stranger Things), Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Top Billy Hargrove
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:47:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29636925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gh0stface/pseuds/gh0stface
Summary: In the few days leading up to the senior prom, two Kings of Hawkins High make an agreement to attend the dance together in a 'civil' manner.Neither of them anticipate actually enjoying each other's company.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove & Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	slow dancing in the dark

**_Two Days Until Prom_ **

Billy was beginning to run out of options, and fast. 

The prom was only a couple of days away, and while he had never worried about that shit before; usually he was bombarded with invites that he completely ignored and spent the night in his room listening to music and just went to the afterparty instead, this one was different. This one was the senior prom, and he hadn’t even gotten a single invite. 

It certainly bruised his ego, that was for sure.

Billy knew he was too good for the girls of Hawkins High School, but he had to go to the prom with _someone_ . So he put a large amount of effort into swallowing his inflated sense of pride and started asking around if anyone wanted to go with him, which in the end only damaged his ego even more when the girls actually said _no_ to him.

_No._

To _Billy Hargrove._

The blonde decided that there was definitely something seriously wrong with the girls in Hawkins, maybe some chemical leak had made them all decrepit. In his mind, that was the only reasonable explanation for this absolute disgrace of a situation he had somehow found himself in.

Because there was no chance in Hell that Billy had, perhaps, lost his touch a little bit in the past several months spent in Hawkins, Indiana. 

No way. 

Billy was just glad when the longest school day of his life finally ended with the brutally deafening ringing of the bell blasting through the silent English classroom, even if it did mean that this took them one day closer to the prom he was so worried about. As soon as class ended, all of the students suddenly became abuzz with the excited conversations of just that exact topic, and Billy found himself rolling his eyes, grabbing his jacket and bag, and booking it out of there as fast as possible. 

He valiantly pushed through the sea of chattering students in the hallway, groaning softly to himself every time he heard someone speak that cursed word. _Prom_. Why did everyone care so much? Why did _Billy_ care so much?

Hargrove only managed to let out a relieved exhale when he was finally out of the horrendously stuffy building and in the fresh air; and although the sun beaming down on him was nowhere near as nice as the heat in California, it still did something to relax him. Billy had always found comfort in being out in the sun, and he had been all too relieved when spring had rolled around and confirmed that Hawkins did, in fact, get sunshine every now and again. Billy had learned to enjoy it while it lasted, and had taken a job at the pool to ensure that he would be able to bask in the sun for as long as it was out. He was dreading when autumn would roll back around, but he had bigger things to worry about right now as he made his way over to the car parked up the slope in the lot, just wanting to go and pick Max up and head _home._

But, when one particular girl walked past him, Billy decided that he could at least try one more time. If this didn't work, he would give up and forget about the stupid dance. 

“Hey, Carol! You and Tommy still together?” Billy called out to the redhead as she passed him in the parking lot, knowing that he didn’t _really_ want to go to the senior prom with Carol Perkins, but if she was his last resort then so be it. But even _she_ simply flipped him off and rolled her eyes, popping the pink ball of bubblegum between her lips before skipping over to Tommy and making a point of making out with him right where Billy could see.

God damn it. Even fucking Carol Perkins wouldn’t go with him.

Billy huffed stubbornly and leaned himself against the door of his car, grabbing his cigarettes from his coat pocket and frantically lighting one up, taking a deep draw from it to try and relax himself. Max wouldn't be out of school for another little while, so Billy often found himself just standing by his car and people watching to pass the time. And it was in doing this that he noticed the head of perfectly sculpted chestnut hair, and the boy attached to it, wandering around the car park like he was lost. 

Billy watched from his car as Steve Harrington, previous King of Hawkins High before Billy had knocked him down a peg, approached a group of girls sitting by their own car in the parking lot with a nervous glint in his eyes and his hands fiddling nervously in front of him. No doubt getting ready to ask them to the prom. And from the look that crossed his face before he could even open his mouth, the group hadn’t even given him a chance. Looked like he was in exactly the same situation as Billy. 

Billy felt a burst of sympathy run through his veins as he watched the brunet shuffle away all deflated and almost pouting, and since he knew exactly how he felt, he couldn’t help but whistle on him, waiting for Steve to whip around to see who had done it before he caught the blue eyes on him, and Billy waved him over in a two fingered gesture.

Steve appeared understandably hesitant, after all it was well known throughout Hawkins that the pair had never exactly been on great terms since Billy’s arrival. He glanced around the parking lot as though trying to decide if he was being called into a trap, like he was waiting for the camera crew to emerge from their hiding spots and tell him that this was all a prank. But when none came, he exhaled deeply and started making his way over to Billy, his hands tightening around the straps of his backpack to keep him calm as he eventually approached the blonde with slow steps. 

“No luck, huh?” Billy hummed curiously, even though he obviously already knew the answer after watching that sad display. Not that he could exactly judge him for that right now.

“I suppose you just called me over here so you could brag about how amazing your date is?” Steve muttered, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on his own trainers so that he didn’t have to meet Billy’s eye. He was afraid that one glance up would give away how disheartened he was. 

Billy scoffed softly, picking the cigarette pack back out of his denim jacket and flipping the top open, holding the pack out to Steve in a silent gesture for him to take a smoke. “No, actually. I haven’t had any luck, either. In fact, everyone I’ve asked has said no.”

“Yeah, same here.” Steve sighed, leaning forward to pluck a cigarette from the packet and even letting Billy pull his lighter out and reach close enough to light it for him. The brunet took a long drag and blew the smoke out up into the air, watching with a soft smile as the cloud danced around above their heads and dissipated into the hot summer air. “And I mean, if _you_ can’t even get a date then there’s no hope for _me_.” 

"Why's that?" Billy asked curiously, dropping the butt of his own cigarette to the ground and crunching it into the gravel under his boot. 

Steve sighed and rolled his eyes as if the answer should have been terribly obvious, before answering with a vague gesture towards Billy's body, "Because you're... You know." 

"Oh?" Billy hummed with a raised eyebrow, admittedly even more confused than he had been before Steve tried to explain himself. Although he had supposed it had been some attempt at complimenting him, judging from the way Steve's eyes trailed over him, so Billy was somewhat flattered. "Well. So are you." Billy tried, frowning when Steve scoffed at his statement. Okay, maybe it hadn't been a compliment. Billy was so confused. 

"You know what would be stupid?" Steve asked with an amused smile as he finished off his own cigarette and followed Billy's action of stamping it out under his feet. "If we just gave up and went to this dumb prom with each other." 

Billy snorted out a laugh at that, nodding in his head in agreement that it was, in fact, a stupid idea, until he actually started to really think about it. Going to the prom with Steve Harrington would be way less embarrassing than turning up alone, even if it wasn't by much. It was still something. And yeah, he'd probably never hear the end of it, especially from his sister, but it was worth a shot. At least Billy wouldn't be lonely for the evening. He just didn't know how Steve would react if Hargrove asked him- in fact, he had a pretty good idea that he'd tell him to go fuck himself- so he had to make it seem like it was Steve's idea. Technically it was, anyway.

"Would beat going alone," Billy pointed out with a shrug, lifting his hand to check his watch and sighing softly when he saw that he had to go and pick Max up in a couple of minutes. He opened the door of the car to make it look like he was leaving immediately, biting back the smirk as he could basically hear the cogs turning in Steve's mind, before the brunet was grabbing onto the sleeve of Billy's jacket just when the blonde moved to clamber into the drivers seat. 

"You have a point there, Hargrove," Steve mumbled, like he was embarrassed to admit that out loud. The little blush blooming on his cheeks suggested that he was. "Maybe... I mean, turning up alone would be more ridiculous than going with each other, right?" Steve pointed out, clearly trying to find some way to justify this idea. 

"Right," Billy nodded, pausing his movements to climb back out of the car and hold onto the door as he nodded for Steve to continue.

"Obviously it wouldn't be like a date or anything. We could just go as... acquaintances, be civil for one night." Steve whispered, slowly leaning closer as if he was terrified someone might overhear them and point out what a terrible this idea was. "...What d'you think?"

Billy nibbled on his lower lip and glanced away from Steve's hopeful doe eyes, pretending to think about it for a few moments before he hummed despondently, "I don't have anything to wear."

"There's still tomorrow! I don't have anything to wear either, we could like.. Go shopping for stuff. Together. At the mall. Tomorrow." Steve suggested, lifting a hand to run through his hair irately as he waited for Billy to completely shoot him down. This was the stupidest idea he'd ever had.

"Alright, Harrington. Deal," Billy nodded in agreement, actually climbing into his car this time and pulling the door shut, leaning out of the window to smirk over at Steve. "Wait here after school tomorrow. I'll drive." Billy winked, forgetting for a moment that he was talking to Steve Harrington and not some girl whose pants he was trying to get into, then pulled out of the lot and started driving over to the Middle School before Steve could change his mind. They were both trapped in this little agreement now, and maybe it wouldn't be the most horrible idea ever.

At least he had a date now...

_**// this ficlet is for viv, for being one of the most amazing people i've ever met in my life << 33 ** _


End file.
